Quickie Punctuation Question

[Maryn]

I'm the grammar Nazi in my critique group, but I have weak areas and this is one of them:He had many more years experience than his son, so...Okay, I want to put an apostrophe after the s in years--but it is actually a possessive? (Or am I just wacked out and sleep-deprived, as I've suspected since this morning, when coffee wasn't getting the job done?)

The critique group meets tonight, BTW.

Maryn, thanking respondants in advance because she has lovely manners at times

[three seven]

Personally, I would.

[aadams73]

Call me kooky, but I wouldn't. I'm reading "years" as a plural, not as a possessive. But maybe I have had too much coffee. :-D

[Note On]

I want to put an apostrophe after the s in years--but it is actually a possessive?

Yes. It's the experience OF the years. Grammatically, that's possessive.

If you find it too awkward, you could use the word "of" and lose the apostrophe.

[maestrowork]

I have many more years of experience than...

[CACTUSWENDY]

and I would leave out the word 'more'.

[Torin]

Yup. Add the apostrophe. As someone else noted, it's the experience of the years, or the years' experience.

Torin

[Ella]

D'yall come make a plug for a new grammar board?
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10866

[Jamesaritchie]

I'm the grammar Nazi in my critique group, but I have weak areas and this is one of them:Okay, I want to put an apostrophe after the s in years--but it is actually a possessive? (Or am I just wacked out and sleep-deprived, as I've suspected since this morning, when coffee wasn't getting the job done?)

The critique group meets tonight, BTW.

Maryn, thanking respondants in advance because she has lovely manners at times



I think it's the word order causing the confusion. Flip-flop the words "years" and "more" to get agreement, I think it makes the rule clearer. "He had many years more experience than his son. . ." "Many" and "years" are both plural, and putting the adjective "more" between them is, I think, what leads to the confusion.

You wouldn't write "many year's" because "many" is talking about numbers, plurality, while "year's" talks about possessive. "Experience" is a noun, so you write plurality, plurality, noun. It's the same as writing "Many years ago, or Many years from now.

So you write "Many years more (insert noun.)

A possessive usually requires an article or modifier determiner. "A" month's pay. "A" year's experience." "An" honest day's pay.

[azbikergirl]

A possessive usually requires an article or modifier determiner. "A" month's pay. "A" year's experience." "An" honest day's pay.

If "a year's experience" is correct, then "five years' experience" would be also, yes? Then in my mind, "many years' experience" would be right.

[Jamesaritchie]

If "a year's experience" is correct, then "five years' experience" would be also, yes? Then in my mind, "many years' experience" would be right.

"A" is a singular article which agrees in number with "year's," and which assigns possessive to the word "year."

But the short answer is yes. If you want to make the noun "year" a plural possessive, the correct way to do so is to use five/many as a determiner and write "many years' experience."

If you're writing a list, as in a resume, you should probably do just this.

Two years' experience as foreman.
Five years' experience in IT.

"Many years' experience" also gives you a plural possessive with number agreement.

But you don't have to use the plural possessive in many sentences, and if you don't have to, I think it's better not to. Your milage will certainly vary.